Studio HVN has completed a home interior design inside a Beijing Xiaoqu (小区). A Chinese housing model with buildings arranged around communal areas built shortly after the reform.

The aim was to make a bright, spacious and practical home of the former two-bedroom flat. It now accommodates space to live, host and work and has been made more energy efficient.

The design approach was to make most of the daylight that enters the space. The flat is orientated from east to west, giving direct sunlight to the kitchen in the morning, and in the afternoon to the bed and living room. Further the design needed to solve storage needs and create a layout with functions in convenient relation to each other. The design took inspiration from its surrounding; exterior wall colors are reflected indoors, and the trees were of influence when designing wooden furniture and green upholstered room screens.

The living and bedroom is one large space that can be separated through a series of space dividing panels. The adjecent balcony has a foldable desk and holds facilities to wash and dry clothes. Connected to the living also is the bathroom. To enlarge the bathroom a cabinet is designed in the living. This cabinet allows brought the sink out of the bathroom to give more space to shower and toilet. This cabinet also makes the bathroom less present as it appears as a piece of furniture.

The Kitchen doubles as hallway. Upon entering the kitchen a coat rack and shoe shelves are placed inside cabinets in direct reach from the door. The kitchen is large to host diner parties and the counter surface is stretched to create a desk in front of the window. The finish of the kitchen is in deep red laminate and white stone counter surface reflecting the flats exterior colors. Together with the client we used Formcard to create a series of colorful handmade cabinet handles.